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Museum Hopping
Over the past couple of weeks I feel as though I’ve become a bit of a museum afficionado as I was able to make trips (via classes at Fitchburg State) to the Worcester Art Museum and the Fitchburg Art Museum. As I wandered through these museums I was tasked with discovering unique things to write about for a feature piece for a class entitled, Writing for Aesthetics taught by Rob Carr. While venturing through the exhibits at these museums I found several wonderful connections back to naturetech and the Fitchburg Art Museum that I didn’t think I would stumble upon.
At the Worcester Art Museum while searching profusely for a work by my favorite American Impressionist, Mary Cassatt, I found these interesting cabinets that contained a world of butterflies, flowers, insects and other designs all made of beautiful shimmering materials encased in glass. It was a Tinsel Painting! I was quite shocked at finding these as they instantly reminded me of Michelle Samour’s work. In fact, after reading the description of the work, which were decorative sconces, or candle holders, they are exactly the kind of work on which Samour bases her work “Too Much Is Not Enough.” The Samour hits on the idea of forms found in nature and the balance between this chaos and the delicate world that the young women creating these works lived in. These “sconces” are a bit of history encapsulated in a decorative wall hanging. It was really amazing to see this bit of connection between a contemporary artist, and her historical inspiration.
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is located literally right across the street from Simmons College, and I was able to visit after a day at Simmons for an advertising competition. A friend of mine had been talking about it a few weeks before and when she heard that I was going to Simmons she demanded that I take a trip across the street. It's only five dollars with a student ID which is a bonus! The museum itself is housed in a large building reminiscent of the Industrial Revolution that is pretty ominous from the outside. The inside however is a wonderful surprise as it looks like The Garden of Eden, with a wide open atrium, filled with a beautiful tropical sort of garden and ancient statues. From there, the museum spreads out onto several floors of varying collections of art that are displayed much like they would be in an opulent home. It's wonderfully mesmerizing the way everything is set out for the audience and feels as if you’re wandering through an opulent palace full of centuries of art which is essentially what you are doing.
The striking connection I made from The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum to the Fitchburg Art Museum was in the legacy of the women that began these museums. Eleanor Norcross of Fitchburg, MA was an artist who studied in Paris. Her work became extremely prolific and after her death was shown in several world- renowned museums. An interesting part of her life was that this Fitchburg native began a passionate effort to begin sending back and collecting art from her travels in order
to educate and inspire her hometown. Thus after her death the Fitchburg Art Museum was founded to extend her legacy for future generations. Norcross has a lot in common with the founder of The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum who was a patron of the arts in her own right and lived in Boston with her husband Jack. After the death of her father and son, she and her husband decided to travel the world viewing art, music, and theater and collected as much as possible. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum houses all of her artistic efforts. These two women are wonderful examples of a passion of love and art that still influences us today.